


Anyone but You

by forgetme



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, Fuck Or Die, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Pre-Canon, Rape/Non-con Elements, Undercover, Undercover Missions, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-02 20:42:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4073215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetme/pseuds/forgetme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi goes undercover; it doesn't go well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hatake Kakashi, twenty years old, missing nin. That was who he was now, at least “officially”. In secret he was still an Anbu, Konoha elite shinobi, the same man who had stood before the Third Hokage a mere week ago and accepted an S-rank mission.

An S-rank mission to become a missing nin, to leave his home behind, abandon his life and become an outcast and criminal. “Only for a certain amount of time, of course,” the Third had told him, an apologetic look in his eyes. “When the mission is complete, you will come back and the truth will be revealed, but for as long as this takes, you cannot tell anyone. Even your closest friends must believe that you have turned your back on the village.”

“It’s no problem,” Kakashi had replied. _Closest friends_ , he’d thought, _I don’t have anyone like that._ He’d left in the dark of night the very same day, a mission scroll tucked into his backpack, the leaf symbol on the forehead protector pulled down over the eye of his closest friend scratched out. If for one split second the question _I wonder how Gai will react_ crossed his mind, he pushed it to the back of his consciousness and never acknowledged it.

There were a few Anbu who knew – just to make sure they wouldn’t attack him on sight – among them his kohai Tenzō, but apart from them, every other Konoha shinobi would treat him as an enemy. It didn’t bother Kakashi. Although he’d never seriously considered defecting he hadn’t felt a very strong connection to anyone in years. He wanted to be good, it was true. He wanted to live up to his sensei’s, his team’s – now all dead – expectations of him, but in reality he had a hard time forming connections with his peers. They were his friends in theory, but in practice he avoided them.

He didn’t mind travelling by himself or doing solo missions. In three days he made it to the border of the Fire Nation, the territory outlined in his mission scroll. There he was to find an S-rank criminal named Hagami who was said to have set up camp in the otherwise deserted region. People had gone missing in the fishing villages on the coast, sightings of suspicious characters had been reported. Some descriptions matched bingo book entries. _Something horrible is going on._ The head of Buryō village, an elderly fisherman with only the most elementary education, had spoken those words. He’d travelled to Konoha, bringing the collected savings of the richest men of his village to pay for an investigation. His money was barely enough for a B-rank, three chūnin and maybe one jōnin if he was lucky, but Sandaime had already dispatched an Anbu squad to the area and so he accepted the old man’s mission without taking his money.

All that they could uncover was a rumor, though. A paradise for missing nin was said to have been established somewhere near the coast where the Fire Nation ended. A paradise for missing nin? The phrase rolled lightly off one’s tongue as it had almost no meaning. They couldn’t figure out what it was; they found no trace of it except for a trail of missing girls and boys. A paradise for missing nin… Only missing nin could find a way inside.

Kakashi spent his first few nights in horrible dives along the coast, ordering many drinks but drinking very little. He spilled them on the bar, on himself until he stank of sake. He flailed around, laughing only a little too loudly like a drunk trying to pass for sober. He never said Hagami’s name, but he heard it sometimes, whispered in the darker corners. His hitai ate was hidden in the pocket of his pants; his uniform was stuffed in his closet back in his apartment in Konoha. Kakashi figured he still didn’t look like a civilian, not by a long shot, not with the bandage covering his eye and the mask hiding the lower part of his face. He was going for this look, the look of someone in flimsy disguise, a hunted man who cared little that he was hunted. Hagami and his consorts would know him anyway, Sharingan no Kakashi, Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, Son of the White Fang. He had more names than he had friends.

Three days of travel, three days in bars and inns and then he was approached. Not by Hagami himself of course, but a slimy fellow, long-limbed and pale with pointy teeth and narrow eyes. “Sharingan no Kakashi, hm? Fancy meeting someone like you here.” The line could have been from a cheap novel – Kakashi knew a thing or two about such literature – and the drawl it was delivered in was no better than a teenager’s impression of a tough guy. “Yeah,” he replied, making no effort to hide his boredom, “what do you want?”

He met Hagami a day later in the same bar and they talked like old pals meeting again after a long time. Hagami was jovial and proud; he felt Kakashi out with indirect questions and watched him out of the corner of his slanted fox eyes. “So," he would say, his mouth twitching, “you’ve grown tired of your life as a Konoha dog?”

“It wasn’t that bad while it lasted,” answered Kakashi and shrugged as if he hadn’t felt the dig, had never felt a dig in his whole life, “but I got bored and I heard this rumor…” He trailed off and shot Hagami a meaningful look. There were too many people in the world who couldn’t resist to fill a hole in a conversation, who had no appreciation for things being left unsaid. It bothered them; they couldn’t keep from scratching the itch. Hagami was like that.

“A paradise for missing nin,” he said and his grin was the definition of shit-eating.

* * *

 

Kakashi was surprised that they took him in so quickly. He allowed them to blindfold him – another thing pulled straight from seedy literature – and let them lead him to their hideout which turned out to be a cave. Very original.

“Let me show you what this is all about.” With words like that Hagami put a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and pulled him along, down a narrow path lit by flickering torches. There were moans. It took him a while to realize that they were sounds coming from human lips and not the boats swaying gently in the water at the mouth of the cliff side cave. With every step they grew louder, some turning into whimpers, into screams. Kakashi had watched some porn – not too much since he preferred written erotica – so he could guess at what was happening. He just couldn’t believe it.

Even when Hagami led him straight into the hall where the orgy was taking place. He was incredulous and, embarrassed, quickly averted his eye from the naked writhing bodies on the ground. A paradise for missing nin? Could it be this crude? Kakashi was disappointed.

“This is it?” he asked later, alone in a room with Hagami, “you just spend all day fucking?”

“Hmmm, I guess it must seem all too simple to you, huh?”

“It _is_ simple. Simple-minded. I thought you were planning to overthrow the hidden villages. To change the world. Getting laid is something I can do anywhere, whenever I want.”

“Sure, sure, you’re young and handsome. No doubt you have to beat off the ladies with a stick… Still, there must be a few who turned you down?”

“So? What does it matter? I can always find someone else.” Kakashi was getting irritated. Sex was a very minor concern to him. All this effort for something as ridiculous as this. It was unbelievable.

“Imagine you could have anyone you wanted, though. And not just have them either, have them _beg_ you to fuck them. Crawling in front of you, whimpering for your cock.”

Kakashi wrinkled his nose at Hagami’s smug expression. Was that what it was? A genjutsu to brainwash these poor girls? Had what he’d just witnessed been mass rape? From the bottom of his stomach he felt a surge of anger rise. Coolly, he took a sip of sake, then he asked, “A genjutsu?” Masking his disgust with feigned boredom.

“Not quite. I’ll show you.” Hagami stood up and walked to the crude wooden planks that had been nailed together to serve as a door. “Bring him in,” he called outside to a person Kakashi couldn’t see from where he was sitting. They waited for a minute. Grinning, Hagami refilled Kakashi’s sake cup. When the door opened, his grin only widened.

Two men entered. Between them they were dragging a third. A dirty, youngish guy on his knees. He was wearing a torn robe. His face was bloody, one eye swollen shut. Panting and whimpering, he collapsed as soon as the others let go of his arms.

“Take a look at him, Kakashi-kun. Do you recognize him?”

Reluctantly, Kakashi got up and stepped closer. The man on the floor might have been a few years older than him. He had short, spiky brown hair. Under the bruises his skin was flushed, his one visible eye was glassy, almost translucent because of the pale lavender color of its iris. On his forehead was the ominous black curse mark identifying him as a lower member of the Hyūga clan.

There was only one man who’d fled the clan in the past few years. One branch member who had been so disgusted with Hyūga Hiashi’s actions and the fate of Hyūga Hizashi that he defected and became a missing nin. Kakashi knew his name and face from the bingo book.

“Is that…? Hyūga Hosoi…” When he heard his name, the man whimpered again and crawled closer to Kakashi who instinctively took a step back.

“Exactly. Take a good look.”

“Please,” mumbled Hosoi, his trembling hand reaching for Kakashi. His gaze was locked on Kakashi’s crotch. He licked his papery lips and tried to sit up straight. The movement caused his robe to fall open, exposing his shockingly dark erection.

“What happened to him?” Kakashi was torn between disgust and pity, a small part of him wanted to go to the man and do something for him, but for the most part he just wanted him gone from the room. He didn’t like what the sight of Hosoi’s almost naked body was doing to him.

“He offended me,” said Hagami. “And now he is my toy.”

“How did you do that?” If it had been a mere genjutsu, a jōnin like Hosoi – a Hyūga with the Byakugan no less – should have been able to break it in a heartbeat.

“You’d love to know that, wouldn’t you. Well, it should be obvious that this isn’t something you can accomplish with a normal jutsu. Let’s just say I have a special set of skills and leave it at that, shall we?” Hagami’s smug grin was downright disgusting. In one quick step he was at Hosoi’s side. He grabbed what was left of the poor man’s robe and ripped it off.

“It’s beautiful, though, isn’t it. The best part is that he’s not always like this. No, in a few hours, he’ll be completely lucid and remember everything. He’ll also know that in a couple of days he’ll return to this state and beg me fuck him again. Imagine that.” Hagami laughed as if he’d just told the funniest joke in the world. “Imagine being able to reduce anyone in the world to this! Whoever you want! Whether it’s the pretty girl next door, the arrogant kunoichi who wouldn’t give you the time of day, legendary S-Rank criminals, hell, even kage! You can have them all! That is, _I_ can have them all. But I’ll share with you if you become my loyal subordinate. If not… well.” He threw a pointed glance at the whimpering man on the ground. “Just look at him.”

Hosoi’s naked back was glistening with sweat. He’d crawled over to Hagami and was clawing on the criminal’s pant leg, pulling himself up to rub his cheek against the man’s crotch. Kakashi felt bile rise in his throat. He swallowed, forcing a grin.

“I want a piece of this,” he said. “Count me in.”


	2. Chapter 2

A day later Kakashi sought out Hosoi. Kakashi hadn’t stayed in the room when it became clear what Hagami was going to do to the man. He couldn’t stop the missing nin, but he also wouldn’t bear witness to his disgusting crime. Hagami laughed at him for it, the discomfort Kakashi couldn’t quite hide. He even offered Hosoi to him as a “gift”. “I’ve been a little hard on him lately, Kakashi-kun, but he really cleans up nicely. Your famous Hyūga are something else, no doubt about it. If you want to take him for a ride, be my guest,” he’d said smirking and pulling at Hosoi’s hair. Kakashi had declined as politely as he could manage and fled the room like a coward.

Hosoi’s cell wasn’t hard to find. The group of missing nin – there were about twenty of them, a handful of bingo book criminals as well as some smaller no name crooks and bandits who did the dirty work – kept all their prisoners behind bars deep inside the cave, but Hosoi was the only one locked up by himself. Which made Kakashi think he was their strongest prisoner.

So much for having anyone they want, Kakashi thought. From what he’d seen, he guessed that almost all of Hagami’s prisoners were civilians. Hagami preyed on the weak.

There was no guard in front of the Hyūga’s cell. From a corner Kakashi surveyed his surroundings. A dark hallway, torches on the walls, straw on the ground. The cell itself was dark, prison bars and blackness. He wouldn’t have known Hosoi was in there if he hadn’t overheard two of the scumbags talking to each other minutes before. They were hanging around Kakashi, watching his every move all the time, because they didn’t trust him, not yet anyway. It was pure chance that he heard one of the criminals whisper to the other, _Did you see that Hyūga last night? Boss really did a number on him. Kinda gross if you ask me, fucking a dude in the ass._ _And I had to drag him back to his cell after, all covered in--_

Kakashi snuck closer. He probably only had minutes before someone would come looking for him.

“Hyūga,” he hissed, wrapping his hands around the cold steel bars. “Talk to me.”

He could hear the sound of ragged breathing like a stuttering heartbeat. Darkness pooled in the far corner of the cell where the flickering torchlight couldn’t reach. There was movement, slow and heavy. Kakashi heard the man drag himself across the floor. He saw his white fingertips claw at the ground. Then the light twitched over his face. One lavender eye, bruises and a split lip, curled in distaste.

“You…,” came Hosoi’s raspy voice. “Hatake…Kakashi... What do you want from me?”

Kakashi stared at him. It was painful with the guilt gnawing on his guts, but that was why he couldn’t allow himself to avert his eye. “I want to help you,” he said.

“Help me?” Hosoi made a choked noise that was somewhere between a laugh and its opposite. “Fuck off.”

“I can get you out of here.”

“What would be the point?” Down below, barely above Kakashi’s toes, Hosoi’s fingers wrapped around one of the iron bars. Bony white, they looked skeletal. “You were there… last night… you saw—“

Neither of them wanted to spell it out. “…Yeah. I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him then, but I _will_ end this.”

“If you really want to help me, then kill me,” said Hosoi, his voice a whisper with a blade’s edge. Kakashi looked down at his upturned face.

“You don’t understand. I’m not—“ He shook his head in exasperation. It might have been obvious at this point, but he was not going to spell out that he was an Anbu. “He will die,” he said instead, his voice firm.

Hosoi made that strange breathless noise again. “What does that matter now?”

“You’ll be going back to Konoha. You defected, but you’re not a criminal. The Third will--”

“Sandaime-sama won’t do anything. Don’t you understand? My fate will be left up to the Hyūga clan. That’s the way it always was, always will be.” “I have lost my honor - - I have lost everything. All I long for now is death.”

No use trying to pursue this topic.

“What did he do to you?” Kakashi asked.

“I… I don’t know. I blacked out when I woke up… I was… like this…”

“There has to be a way to undo it.” It was a useless thing to say. If Hosoi had known of a way, he’d have told Kakashi already.

“I haven’t seen anyone regain control or get out of here alive. If one of us dies, they just throw them into the sea,” mumbled Hosoi.

Kakashi took a few seconds to think this over. The fact that Hosoi didn’t know anything about the jutsu Hagami was using was a problem. He’d hoped the other man would be able to give him _something_. However, Hosoi not knowing about a cure didn’t mean that such a thing didn’t exist.

His thoughts were interrupted by Hosoi’s trembling voice. Kakashi looked down; the other man was hanging his head, his hands loose around the prison bars.

“If you really want to help me, then give me a weapon.” His grip on the iron bars tightened. “Please…” Kakashi stared down at the Hyūga’s blood-crusted wrists. “I wanted to… but I’m too weak. Give me a kunai… a blade… anything with an edge… please…”

He shook his head and averted his eye. Revulsion and pity were turning his stomach.

“No, this isn’t over. I may still need you.”

As if Kakashi had kicked him, Hosoi drew in a sharp breath.

“Fuck you then, … Sharingan no Kakashi,” he spat.

Kakashi swallowed his feelings and shrugged. There was nothing else he could do for the other man. When it came down to it, Hosoi was still a missing nin by choice. He couldn’t expect mercy, and yet Kakashi wasn’t the type to take pleasure from another’s suffering. “Don’t give up,” he said softly before he turned and began walking away.

_“Fuck you, Son of the White Fang.”_

It was merely a whisper, but it stayed with Kakashi all night.

* * *

 

They wanted him to pick a girl – or a few – but he refused. When Hagami offered a boy, a man, whatever else he wanted, Kakashi refused again. He could see suspicion cloud his eyes then.

“I want someone special,” he told him, “someone powerful. You can do that, right?”

“Sure.” False pride straightened Hagami’s spine; he was, Kakashi guessed, offended by his challenging tone.

_Fine,_ he thought, _prove yourself to me and show me how you’re doing this while you’re at it._

“Do you have anyone in mind?” Hagami asked, bristling.

“Here.” Unceremoniously Kakashi handed over the page he’d ripped from the bingo book.

A frown on his face, Hagami glanced down and drew in a sharp breath. “You can’t be serious.”His eyes were glued to the photo below the name for a few seconds, then he looked up at Kakashi and smirked. “So this is your type, Kakashi-kun? You and I aren’t so different after all, it seems. Who would have thought. ”

He balled up the paper in his hand. “But it’s impossible, isn’t it. No one even knows where he’s hiding. Uchiha Itachi, that lovely child. Are you kidding me, Hatake Kakashi?”

“You said I could have anyone I want.”

“Tch. Don’t overplay your hand, boy. You’re strong, but you’re not _that_ strong.” Hagami stepped closer until they were almost chest to chest. Kakashi could feel the other man’s body heat, an aura of sliminess. He didn’t flinch, not even when Hagami cupped his cheek through the mask.“You’re pretty though,” he murmured. Kakashi had to suppress his killing intent. It flared in his chest like a vicious flame. The hand fell away. “But I want your strength for now. Got it?”

Kakashi snorted. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“And you don’t have any reason to be,” Hagami said as he turned away. “Yet. I’ll send my men out to catch you something good. Please don’t keep rejecting my presents. It’s insulting.”

* * *

 

Kakashi knew he didn’t have much time. Hagami stayed in the cave with him, keeping an eye on him at all almost all times. He didn’t trust Kakashi which was only too understandable.

So far Kakashi had not been allowed to leave the cave. He’d seen the prisoners – Hagami had been perfectly eager to show him the cells. He’d seen the living quarters of Hagami’s group and had met most of its members, but he hadn’t seen them fight.

Sneaking off to speak with Hosoi had been a mistake, he realized that now. He should have used the opportunity to summon his ninken, to send them out, back to Konoha with information, to get Anbu reinforcements. Every minute he wasted was another minute of torment for the captives.

All he could do was wait for another opportunity.

It took a day.

A whole day during which Hagami didn’t give him an inch of space and then they returned and he was called away. Kakashi was supposed to stay where he was, two guards at the door, glaring at him, but there were screams coming down the hallway, echoing through the cave and the men twitched and shifted and finally ran out of the room.

The first scream sent a shiver down Kakashi’s spine. The second turned his blood to ice. With the third the two guards were out the door and he was alone, nailed to the floor by that feeling, that terrible feeling…

The fourth scream.

Kakashi knew this voice.

_It can’t be_ , he thought as he started running. Running in the wrong direction, not towards a secluded place where he could summon the dogs, but there, towards the screams, that voice, that stupid voice. _I’m wrong._

_Please let me be wrong._

_Let it not be him._


	3. Chapter 3

_Before he went, there was one thing Kakashi knew he had to do. He didn’t want to do it and for a while he’d debated whether he even really_ had _to do it, but no matter how much he tried to deny it, deep down he was sure there was no way around it. He had to do_ something _._

_So he talked to the one person who had not only been briefed on the details of his mission but was also someone Kakashi knew he could trust._

_“Do me a favor,” he said casually, backpack already slung over one shoulder, straddling the sill of Tenzō’s open window, “keep an eye on Gai for me? Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”_

_Tenzō was standing in his tiny bedroom, the sliver of evening light leaking past Kakashi slicing him in half. He inclined his head as if he didn’t understand._

_“Gai-san?” he asked. “What do you think he’ll do, senpai? I mean, there’s really nothing he_ can _do, is there? By morning you’ll be long gone.”_

_The naïveté could’ve made Kakashi burst into tears. In the back of his mind he always carried around a catalogue entitled ʻdumb things Gai has done and dumb things Gai is likely to do (to me)ʼ. It had proven to be a pretty helpful tool in predicting Gai’s behavior and had it been a real thing, it would have been a giant thousand page brick big enough to break one’s back._

_“Just make sure he doesn’t go after me, hm, Tenzō?” He turned his face away from his kohai and looked towards the sinking sun. “Please,” he added under his breath as he leapt off the wall._

* * *

 

Brown, red and green, that flash of green Kakashi saw as he ran and ran, his heart almost stopping at the sight of it. Fabric, a torn sleeve, a calloused hand lying limply on the ground. Only a glimpse of this, then the circle of men tightened, the backs of legs blocking Kakashi’s view.

“What the fuck is this guy supposed to be?” someone shouted, incurring a wave of uneasy laughter.

“He killed five of my men.” Hagami’s voice cut straight through the laughter, leaving it dead on the ground. He was in their midst, standing next to the man on the ground. Kakashi pushed past the others, not stopping until there was no one left between him, the whimpering man and Hagami, whose hard gaze was boring into Kakashi.

He stood very still, forcing himself to relax. His eye was glued to the crumpled figure, the familiar green of the torn fabric making him sick. Where blood had soaked through the spandex was turning brown-black. There was no jounin vest and the belt—

It dangled from Hagami’s hand. He held it out to Kakashi, his stare penetrating, searching. The leather was ripped and frayed, the metal plate blood splattered.

“Does this look familiar to you, Kakashi-kun?”

No use feigning ignorance now. Kakashi nodded. “I know him. He went to the academy with me, actually.”

“I see. Any idea why he was snooping around here?”

“Probably a mission,” Kakashi said dismissively. He was distracted by Gai’s ragged panting and the wet, painful sounds that seemed to force themselves from his throat. With every fiber in his body Kakashi wanted to bend down and check on Gai, but he couldn’t, not if he wanted them to get out of this alive.

“Ah, such a wonderfully detailed explanation.” Hagami snorted, his voice filled with disgust.

“What do you want me to say? I have no idea and I don’t give a shit.”

“We’ve seen Konoha Anbu sniffing around, but this is different. He’s no missing nin either. So I’m thinking the reason he’s here, the reason I lost five men, is _you._ ”

It couldn’t be denied. Kakashi looked down at Gai lying there on his belly, face in the dirt. He took a tentative step closer. The circle of men around him seemed to tighten further.

“So? He’s an idiot. He doesn’t matter,” he said.

“Should I kill him then?”

“You could, but he’s no threat to you now.” He could barely hold Hagami’s gaze, the urge to look down at Gai to make sure that he was still breathing was too strong. _How do I get you out of here alive?_ Kakashi wondered, feeling the first tendril of fear snaking up his back. He had to stay calm. “And he cost you. You should make him pay.” Kakashi knew all he could do was play for time.

Hagami scratched his chin as if in deep thought. “Well, I did promise you a present. Although… this one is quite ugly, isn’t he, Kakashi-kun? I can’t imagine he’ll be fun to play with.”

“Depends on the game.”

Kakashi forced himself to meet Hagami’s eye. Very deliberately he stepped forward and, gritting his teeth, kicked Gai in the ribs hard enough to make him roll onto his back. Gai screamed in pain when Kakashi’s foot connected, his eyes twitched open, wet and bloodshot. His pupils slid from left to right, right to left, seemingly unseeing. Kakashi stood completely still, his hands balling into fists of their own volition. When Gai’s gaze latched onto him, he had to look away.

“K..Kakashi…?”

Silently Kakashi cursed Gai’s faltering voice. _Shut up, you idiot, shut up._ _They’ll kill you. I can’t let that happen!_

While he stood there without moving, Gai was making attempts to crawl to him. Groaning, he tried to push himself up on his elbow to get closer to Kakashi somehow.

Hagami was looking down at Gai, a little crease between his eyebrows, a half-moon fingernail indentation that spelled doom to Kakashi.

So when Gai reached for Kakashi and missed, his hand falling limply down to the ground next to Kakashi’s foot, he didn’t hesitate and stepped on it as hard as he could manage.

There was the crunch of bones and a yelp from Gai who stared up at him with wide eyes. “Why…?”

Kakashi lifted his foot and Gai withdrew his hand to cradle it against his chest. The men were chuckling. Even Hagami’s mouth had curled into a nasty smile.

“What a pathetic piece of scum,” Kakashi said. “Let me take him. I’ll teach him a lesson; it’ll be fun.” He squashed the self-loathing in his chest along with his concern for Gai.

_Don’t look at me like this, I’m doing this to protect you!_

“So that’s the kind of guy you are, Copy Ninja?” Hagami’s eyes were shining with glee. “I can’t wait to see what you’ll do to him when my jutsu begins to have an effect on him.”

 _What?!_ Kakashi stiffened.

“Wait, you already…?”

“Sure. I didn’t know whether we would keep him around or not, but it’s always fun to watch them die like that.”

“Die?” Kakashi heard the faintness of his voice and bit his tongue. _No,_ he thought, _no, I have to save him. It’s not too late. I will save him._

“Yes, their body temperature keeps rising and rising until their brains are cooked inside their skulls. Unless they get some… relief that is. Either way, it’s quite entertaining.” Hagami smirked, his razor sharp gaze slicing at Kakashi. “You look a little pale, Kakashi-kun. Are you not pleased?”

Kakashi pulled himself together. “I’m fine,” he said. “This is just unexpected. You haven’t really explained your jutsu to me before, so…”

“Oh, there’s no need now. You’ll see.”

They both looked at Gai who lay on the ground on his side, knees drawn up, hand still cradled against his chest. His eyes were clearer, Kakashi noticed, his face expressionless under the crust of dirt and blood. It was always like this; after opening the gates he was useless for a few hours, but he recovered a lot faster than anyone ever thought. It shouldn’t have been humanly possible, but Kakashi could tell that Gai was already getting better.

He kept his eyes on Gai, searching for that spark.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.


End file.
